Charity Case |13reasonswhy|

track thirteen

Jayce Morgan

"What are you saying?"

"Jeff wasn't drunk. I know he wasn't."

"How?" Mr Atkins asks.

"Well, he promised me."

"Promises can be broken, sweet heart."

"I drank what was left in his cup before he left. It was just Cola. Jeff wouldn't have drank. He wouldn't for the baby."

Their faces turned confused.

"What baby?" Mrs Atkins asks.

"I'm pregnant. And the baby is his."

Mrs Atkins started crying.

"There's a part of him still here with us." She says putting her hand on her husband's arm.

"Jeff wasn't drinking. I don't know what happened on that road. But Jeff wasn't drunk when it happened."

"Thank you so much Jayce. We couldn't be more than happy to hear this." Mr Atkins says.

"Can I go to his room?" I ask.

"Of course, I'll take you." She says smiling. 

I followed Mrs Atkins up the stairs as she opened the door.

"How far along are you?" She asks.

"I think two maybe three months along?" I say looking around the room.

"Is there something I can help you find?" 

"Jeff went out and got clothes for the baby a while ago, I had a project I had to work on." I say kinda regretting going with Monty then Jeff.

All of the times.

Maybe if I had gone with Jeff instead of staying with Monty at the party, he would still be alive. 

"How long has he known?" 

"I told him on the winter formal day. He took it surprisingly well." I say smiling grabbing a light yellow bag with a logo for the local store that sold baby clothes. 

"Is that it?" 

"I think so." I say taking out a light green onsie that had read 'i got the best dad in the universe'.

Reading it almost brought me to tears.

There were baby bottles, binkies, and other clothes.

"When do you find out what your having?"

"I don't know. I have to make an appointment."

I looked through the bag, wishing Jeff was next to me looking through it with me.

"Jeff loved you so much. He would sit at the dinner table, eating telling us about how beautiful you looked that day, or how you made him smile telling him some joke, basically anything to keep the conversation on you." She said tears filling her eyes. "You meant the world to him. I'm sure if he was still here he would love the baby just the same."

"Jeff was a good guy. He didn't deserve to go the way he did." I say wiping my eyes. 

"Do you know what your gonna name it?"

"Yeah, a while back me and Jeff were goofing around and he said if it was a girl it would be Jennifer, and if it was a boy, Jack." I say. "But if its a boy, I'm probably gonna name it after him." I say holding the green piece of clothing in my hand. 

"I think he would love that."

I was quiet.

"I'm so sorry Mrs Atkins."

"You have nothing to be sorry for Sweetie. We all suffered a great loss. We need to stick together, be tuff. For him." She says coming up and rubbing my arm.

"Do you care if I take his lettermens?" I ask.

"Not at all. He always loved when you wore it. He'd have a field day telling me as I cooked how happy it made him when you walk around the hallway with his name on your back."

"He was always such a goof." I say chuckling. 

"Yeah." She smiled.

I took the bag and the jacket and followed her down the stairs.

"Thank you again Mrs and Mr Atkins."

"Thank you Jayce. For letting our family continue. Come back any time." Mr Atkins says.

I smiled walking back to my house as I started crying again.

I couldn't let myself forget Jeff. 

Everyone else already was, conversations shifted from him to whatever dumb drama happened this week.

I wasn't going to just let this heal over and be some stepping stone.

This was my love that died, not some guy I seen around school.

Monty came around later and helped me start packing some stuff.

"Do you want me to stay, and then we can move some of this stuff to my house tomorrow? Have you out of here by Tuesday."

"Yeah, that's fine." I say.

"You stopped over at his parents house?" He asks looking at the jacket on the chair.

"Yeah. I had to let them know about the baby."

"That's good of you."

"They were so happy to hear Monty. They didn't deserve to loose their son."

"I know, but there's no saying that it would have happened any different."

"Maybe if I would have went he would still be alive."

"Jayce if you would have went too, who's saying you wouldn't have died too, and the baby. Don't blame yourself."

"I'm sorry Monty. It's just -"

"It's the hormones Jayce. It's fine."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Cushion.

Just a cushion.